Flexible container with printed sheet metal insert



T. J. ROLFS Nov. 2, 1965 FLEXIBLE CONTAINER WITH PRINTED SHEET METAL INSERT Filed Nov. 19. 1962 INVENTOR 7270/14 5J Pup-5 M f TI/LZZM United States Patent O 3,214,853 FLEXIBLE CGNTANER WITH PRNTED SHEET METAL INSERT Thomas I. Rolfs, West Bend, Wis., assigner to Amity Leather lroducts Co., West Bend, Wis., a corporation of Wisconsin Filed Nov. 19, 1962, Ser. No. 238,529 3 Claims. (Cl. 44E-10) The present invention relates generally to improvements in the art of fabricating flexible containers, and relates more particularly to improved means for applying printed materials to leather accessories such as billfolds, `key containers, purses, cigarette cases, and the like.

A primary object of the present invention is to provide a container 4having IWalls formed 'of relatively llexi'ble sheet material such as leather or plastic with printed indicia of a permanent nature which may ybe readily and economically applied so as to present an attractive lasting appearance.

While it is common practice in the leather goods industry to print identifying indicia of various types directly on the walls of billfolds, pocket secretaries, money holders, key cases, purses and simi-lar flexible-walled containers formed of leather and plastic, it is extremely difficult to obtain satisfactory results and it is yvirtually impossible to gain a lasting effect. Since `tanning methods and the oils used in treating the leather as well as the leather itself differ quite widely coupled with the fact that leather is by its very nature not conducive to printing, rather careful and extensive tests must be performed 'on each batch in an attempt to determine which printing inks -w-ill be compatible with the oils in the leather and with the particular type of leather and tanning methods employed in order to insure receptiveness to the printing. Even then, considerable care must be taken in printing the Ileather and such printing is necessarily restricted to certain types preferably accompanied by an indenting of the lprinted matter in the leather. Furthermore, exing and normal wear causes the printing to deteriorate regardless of care, and the life of the printed material is thereby restricted.

It is therefore another object of this invention to obviate the aforesaid objections and disadvantages attendant prior devices of this general type.

More particularly, it is an additional object of the present invention to provide a flexible container with a sheet metal insert supplied with desired printed indicia and effectively secured to a wall of the container in a novel manner whereby the bulk of the container is relatively unadected with minimum impairment iof its lilexibility.

A further object of the invention is t-o provide a novel and simple method of attaching the printed sheet metal stamping in the desired position within the container wall while insuning against displacement thereof.

These and other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description.

A clear conception of the features constituting the present improvement and of the construction and mode of producing typical containers embodying the invention may be `had vby referring to the drawing accompanying and forming a part of this specification wherein like reference characters designate the same or similar parts in the various views` FIG. l is a plan view of a typical billfold .or wallet embodying a printed sheet metal inse-rt secured wit-hin the Iwall of one yof the compartments thereof in accordance with the invention, the Ibilllfold 'being shown in open condition with the compartment wall being broken away for the sake of clarity;

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FIG. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary transverse section taken along the line 2-2 of FIG. '1;

FIG. 3 is a plan View of a vtypical money holder embodying one of the printed sheet metal inserts in the front wall thereof, the front wall likewise -being bnoken away for clarity;

FIG. 4 is a transverse section through the holder taken along the line 4-4 .of FIG. 3; and

F IG. 5 is an exploded sectional View ofthe related parts comprising the invention and illustrating the method of assembly.

While the invention ,has been shown and described herein as being especially applicable to leather products of certain types embodying sheet metal stampings printed as by lithography etching or the like, it is not desired or intended to thereby unnecessarily limit the invention by reason of such restricted embodiments since the irnprovements may be used to simi-lar advantage on a wide variety of more-or-less flexible containers or the like fabricated `of cloth, plastics or other sheet materia-ls; and it is also contemplated that certa-in speciic terminology use-d herein shall lbe given the Ibroadest possible interpretation consistent `with the disclosure.

.Referring to FIGS. l and 2 of the drawing, the invention is .shown as being embodied in a billfold or wallet d0 having a plurality of compartments 11, 12, 13, d4 defined by walls 11'5, l16, 17, 18, 19 formed of leather, plastic or other suitable sheet material folded and stitched in a wellknofwn manner. In the illustration, the wall 19 which cooperates with vthe Wall 116 to form the compartment 14 llas been formed with a rectangular aperture 20. The printed insert comprises a thin sheet metal stamping 2d having a medial raised rectangular portion 22 corresponding to' the opening 20 and surrounded by an outwardly extending bounding ilange 23, the face of the raised portion 22 being provided with desired indicia 24 printed thereon as by lithography or Ithe like. The depth of the raised portion 22 formed in the stamping `21 is approximately equal to the thickness lof the lwall 19 so that when the portion 22 is placed Iwithin the aperture 20 with the printing 214 exposed and -the flange 23 seated tight against the inner surface of the wall 19 the printed face of the stamped portion 22 will be substantially flush with the outer surface of the wall '19. Finally, the sheet metal insert 21 is retained in position with the raised printed portion [22 snugly confined within the window forming aperture 20 of the wall i19 by means of -a thin sheet l25 of suitable materia-l such as paper, plastic, leather or fabric overllying the flange =23 and secured as by a suitable adhesive to the interior surface of the wal-l 1,9, the sheet 25 lbeing shown -as being coextensive with the wa-ll :19 to provide a backing therefor in the particular embodiment of -FIGS. l and 2.

Thus, the selected wall 19 of the billfold 10 is provided with desired printed indicia 24 which is of a permanent nature due to the good receptiv-eness to and retention of printing of the sheet metal stamping 21 which is furthermore effectively retained in position and prevented from displacement by the thin backing sheet 25. Also, the metal stamping 21 is formed of such thin gauge material as to not noticeably interfere with the iiexibility or bulk of the container 10, and since the stamped or raised portion 22 is of a depth equal to the thickness of the wall 19, the printing 24 is attractively displayed within the window 20 and there is no interference whatsoever w-ith the folding of the wallet along the transverse fold 26.

FIGS. 3 and 4 illustrate the improvement as embodied in a money holder or folder 30 having the outer walls 31, 32. secured along one marginal edge as by means of a suitable metal clip 33 with a compartment 34 formed by an inner wall 35 secured along two of its marginal edges to the Wall 32. In this illustration, the outer Wall 32 is formed with a circular window forming aperture 36, and the thin sheet metal insert 37 is Imedially stamped to provide a circular raised portion 38 bounded by a radiating flange 39. Again, the raised portion 38 is of approximately the same depth as the thickness of the Wall 32, and the face of the portion 38 is printed with desired indicia 40. The raised printed portion 38 is similarly inserted within the Window opening 36 with the printing 40 outwardly exposed and lthe ange 39 seated against the inner surface of the wall 32, and the insert 37 is again retained against displacement by means of a thin backing sheet 41 overlying the flange 39. However, in the present illustration, the sheet 41 is shown as only partially covering the inner surface of the Wall 32 instead of providing a Icoextensive backing as in the example of FIGS. 1 and 2, the sheet 41 again being formed of any suitable material such as paper, plastic or fabric and being secured as by `a suitable adhesive to the interior of the wall 32.

As shown in FIG. 5, the method of aixing printed indicia to the wall of a flexible container in accordance with the present invention consists essentially in rst forming an aperture 20 in a selected Wall 19 of the container. A thin sheet metal blank 21 receptive to printing is then deformed as by a stamping operation to provide a raised portion 22 corresponding in size and shape to the aperture 20 and corresponding in depth to the thickness of the wall 19, the raised portion 21 being bounded by an outwardly extending flange 23. Either before or after the lstamping ope-ration, indicia 24 is printed as by lithography on the face of the raised portion 22, the raised portion 22 bearing the printed matter being inserted within the aperture 20 of the Wall 19 with the printing 24 exposed outwardly through the window forming aperture and the bounding flange 22 being seated against the inner surface of the Wall 19. Finally, the thin sheet 25 of flexible material is placed over the bounding flange and is secured to the adjacent inner `surface of the container wall 19 as by means of a `suitable adhesive.

Various modes of -carrying out the invention are contemplated as being within the scope of the following claims particularly Ipointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which is regarded as the invention.

I claim:

1. An article of manufacture comprising, a flexible container having walls formed of readily deformable but durable sheet material of a given thickness, one of said walls having an aperture forming a Window opening therein, a thin sheet metal stamping of uniform thickness less than that of said wall and having a at raised portion provided with printed indicia on the face thereof and surrounded by an integral outwardly extending at flange of substantial Width, the raised portion of said stamping corresponding approximately in depth to the thickness of said wall and corresponding in shape and size to said window opening, said stamping being positioned with the raised portion thereof snugly conned within said window opening to expose the printed indi-cia therethrough and with the flat tiange thereof seated over its entire Width directly against the inner surface of said wall, and a thin flexible and readily deformable backing `sheet entirely overlying the dat flange of said insert and secured to the surface of said container wall outwardly beyond and closely adjacent to the entire marginal edge of said insert ange to thereby positively prevent displacement of said insert upon deformation of the container walls resulting from normal use of said container.

2. An article of manufacture according to claim 1, wherein the exible container is a money holding receptacle.

3. An article of manufacture according to claim 1, wherein the backing sheet overlying the ange of the insert is substantially -coextensive with the container wall to provide a lining therefor.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,115,860 11/14 Owen 129-20 1,618,073 2/ 27 Flint 40-10 1,747,508 2/30 Goertz 40-10 1,846,591 2/32 Guerin 40-10 EUGENE R. CAPOZIO, Primary Examiner.

JEROME SCHNALL, Examiner. 

1. AN ARTICLE OF MANUFACTURE COMPRISING, A FLEXIBLE CONTAINER HAVING WALLS FORMED OF READILY DEFORMABLE BUT DURABLE SHEET MATERIAL OF A GIVEN THICKNESS, ONE OF SAID WALLS HAVING AN APERTURE FORMING A WINDOW OPENING THEREIN, A THIN SHEET METAL STAMPING OF UNIFORM THICKNESS LESS THAN THAT OF SAID WALL AND HAVING A FLAT RAISED PORTION PROVIDED WITH PRINTED INDICIA ON THE FACE THEREOF AND SURROUNDED BY AN INTEGRAL OUTWARDLY EXTENDING FLAT FLANGE OF SUBSTANTIAL WIDTH, THE RAISED PORTION OF SAID STAMPING CORRESPONDING APPROXIMATELY IN DEPTH TO THE THICKNESS OF SAID WALL AND CORRESPONDING IN SHAPE AND SIZE TO SAID WINDOW OPENING, SAID STAMPING BEING POSITIONED WITH THE RAISED PORTION THEREOF SNUGLY COFINED WITHIN SAID WINDOW OPENING TO EXPOSE THE PRINTED INDICIA THERETHROUGH AND WITH 